Q: Move iTunes library to external hard drive?

This was the answer that made most sense to me! Worked a treat, and I finally got what the very first post was trying to say! Thanks.

You're welcome.

tt2

Hi turingtest2, I am looking to follow your 'Make a split library portable' document and unsplit and keep our single shared media folder and seperate libraries together on the same external drive. We currently have two users on our imac  therefore two separate iTunes libraries and associated files (.itl, .xml, sentinel, etc). I am looking to move both user library files to the same external drive location housing the media. However, as there are two user library files I'm not sure how best to do this.

As both users iTunes library files have the same name I assume I can't just place both of these in the itunes root directly on the external drive. So if I created a libraries sub folder and added both users libraries files into their own named library folder (see path examples below) would iTunes still see these as being linked to the media and work as expected once each user locates their library files in their own iTunes session? If not what are the alternatives?

External drive name>public>itunes>iTunes media - all media files

External drive name>public>itunes>Libraries>user1>all user 1 library related files

External drive name>public>itunes>Libraries>user2>all user 2 library related files

FInally, do I also need to relocate each users mobile applications, previous iTunes libraries, iPod games, etc folders into their named user library folder too as outlined above. Under the new media layout mobile applications is held under iTunes media, but we have different apps and these currently sit in the same folder as our libraries. should they remain seperate or, like music, movies etc can we store these in the single media folder?

this is the last part I need to understand before I look to follow your a-h process, utilising it as applicable. So any advise that you can give will be gratefully received and allow me to start this process with confidence. Thanks.

For the library to be portable it needs to be in the form of library folder containing media folder containing all media. If you want to run two parallel but independent libraries that both share a common media folder then you can rename the library files and put them in the same folder.

E.g.

Alice's Library.itl

Alice's Library.xml

Alice's Library Extras.itdb

Alice's Library Genius.itdb

Bob's Library.itl

Bob's Library.xml

Bob's Library Extras.itdb

Bob's Library Genius.itdb

can all live in the same iTunes folder sharing common Album Artwork and iTunes Media folders.

If you already have a shared media folder then you need to move and/or rename the respective library files so they are in the parent folder of the media folder, then access each of the libraries so that iTunes knows the relative paths to the media. A clone of this parent folder should then work with either library when accessed on some other path. Note consolidating the two different libraries to a new path would not work as iTunes would create duplicates of any shared content.

tt2

I have been trying to transfer my music for a week and nothing would transfer.  Finally , I read your suggestion and it worked but when I opened the file in the external hard drive I have no sound.  I will try a different computer.

Thank you for your help JF.

This answer was so good that I actually created an account for these forums simply to say how good it was. Holding down option, FTW!!!

Thanks.

This was also very helpful to me. The only difference was that the library file [library.itl] was inside my 'iTunes' folder so iTunes redirected me away from the 'iTunes Media' folder and back up to the 'iTunes' folder.

iTunes looks for the 'library.itl' file as Limnos suggests, which in my case was up in the 'iTunes' folder. This still works 4 years later ...

Thanks for the quickie